Browsed byMonth: May 2017

A SWISS social media user has been convicted of defamation for “liking” posts on Facebook accusing an animal rights activist of being a racist and an anti-Semite. Source: Facebook user found guilty of defamation for ‘liking’ posts accusing an animal rights activist of being racist

Local TV stations make extensive use of “video news releases” which are pre-packaged public relations (PR) created fake news stories. All of the sampled TV stations “actively disguised the sponsored content to make it appear to be their own reporting. In almost all cases, stations failed to balance the clients’ messages with independently-gathered footage or basic journalistic research. More than one-third of the time, stations aired the pre-packaged V”NR in its entirety”. Source: Microsoft Word – Fake TV News —…

Twitter, just like Facebook, will now present content to you that Twitter’s algorithms believe you are interested in seeing. Effectively, Twitter joins Facebook in censoring the content you see, by default.

Facebook has collected massive amounts of personal data through our online habits (including advertising networks that track the web sites we visit), our posts on Facebook, the posts we like and share, the sites we log in to using our FB log in ID for access, and possibly scanning even our text messages on smart phones (their Facebook app gets permission to do so), and the details of our travel (via the Facebook apps use of location data). No one…

The CEO of British Airways, standing in their operations center, apologizes for their terrible service and lack of contingency/disaster planning: As you may know, it is essential that one wears a high visibility safety vest when standing in a computer operations center! Or maybe not. Seriously, the reason for this odd clothing choice is that his public relations staff said it would help him look like he was “hands on” in the midst of the crisis. You might remember when…

An individual harassed two teen women on Portland’s Trimet MAX rail system, verbally attacking Muslims and others. Three local heroes stepped up to stop the verbal assault and two were murdered by the attacker and one remains hospitalized. Additional heroes include those who provided immediate first aid and those who left the train to follow the attacker on the street. Not surprisingly, social media, even some professional media, plus the comments to news stories, turned the story in to a…

(Note – this post is about the media – not about the candidates or the political parties). Actual headlines: “In blood red Montana, ObamaCare repeal to blame for close race” “Montana house race is a gauge on Trump, test for Democrats” “House elections to test whether Trump is hurting Republicans” “A populist test in Trump country“ NY Times: “The Montana contest was the second special House election this year in a conservative district…” and further spins, near the end of…

How social media “adhocracies” are “more likely to be one-hit wonders” as they enlist social media propaganda to whip people into a frenzy – and how governments and politicians are fighting back using propaganda: The author is also insightful on how governments and politicians are moving from censorship, no easy task on social media, to attention-grabbing and misinformation. Source: Why networked protest struggles on the streets

“Nearly two-thirds of Americans say the mainstream press is full of fake news, a sentiment that is held by a majority of voters across the ideological spectrum. According to data from the latest Harvard-Harris poll, which was provided exclusively to The Hill, 65 percent of voters believe there is a lot of fake news in the mainstream media.” Source: Poll: Majority says mainstream media publishes fake news | TheHill 2/3ds of voters think the media publishes many fake news reports….

This is real, not a fake. This is based on the Face2Face technology developed at Stanford University. The facial movements of the actor are automatically translated to the “target” – several examples using well known politician’s faces. Watch this video clip and think about the ramifications for propaganda messaging. Terrifying! [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohmajJTcpNk?ecver=1]

“Drought over, but eclipse event will raise fire danger” That is the odd headline of a KATU local TV news report about Oregon State. Authorities think more people will visit Oregon in the summer of 2017 because of a solar eclipse. Since humans cause wild fires, this will increase the wild fire risk. To strengthen the claim, the local news story emphasizes: “According to the National Park Service, 90 percent of wildfires in the United States are caused by humans,…

It turns out, the comments we make online reveal a lot about us. Researchers are now analyzing online comments for a wide array of predictive patterns and signals, using Internet discussions and social media as sources of constant, easy-to-access information about what’s going on in people’s lives. Their efforts may eventually allow health professionals to monitor patients’ well-being based on their Twitter streams and Facebook entries. Controversially, employers or insurance companies could one day screen job applicants and potential…